These Are The Most Obvious Differences Between The “Harry Potter” Movies And Books
Harry Potter is one of the best book and film franchises of all-time. People would hurry up to the read the books just so they can watch the movie and point out all the differences. However, if you're a fan of the Wizarding World who's seen the movies and not the books, you missed out on A LOT.
On the bright side, the movie adaptions gave us some scenes full of emotions that never appeared in the books. While everyone has their own list of what should have been cut, this could be a discussion for your next Harry Potter marathon.
The Start Of The First Movie Was Different From The Book
In the book, Vernon Dursley is going to work and going about his day, noticing people in cloaks. However, the movie went ahead and skipped the first chapter of the book.
The movie completely ignored the fact that people all across the country were meeting in secret and raising their glasses to "The Boy Who Lived."
Nearly Headless Nick's "Deathday Party" Never Happened
The Gryffindor Ghost invites Harry, Ron, and Hermione to his Deathday party. Unfortunately, it was dropped entirely out of the films for some odd reason.
However, it would have been cool to see. But, maybe staging a whole party for these transparent actors would have been too expensive.
Professor Snape's Potion Puzzle Was Omitted
In The Sorcerer's Stone, there are various challenges to get the stone. Most people know about the keys and the chess board, but Hermione was the one to solve Snape's potions riddle.
It's amazing in the book, but in the movie, it was cut for time to finish production.
Peeves The Poltergeist Was Cast In The First Movie
Sadly, the character was cut in editing. Not only was Peeves responsible for his amusing and charming moments, but he actually came up quite often in the series.
He's as old as Hogwarts itself, but unfortunately, he couldn't carve out any screen time on the big screen.
In The Books, The Trio Uses The Invisibility Cloak All The Time
Seriously. They wore it ALL THE TIME. I mean, if you had a cloak that could fit you and your two best friends underneath that would make you all invisible, why would you ever not use it?
J.K. Rowling described it as being made from a silver, fluid-like material.
The Maurders Map
The Marauders were Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. Lupin didn't enjoy being a werewolf, so the other three trained themselves to be unregistered animagi to help him deal with his condition.
It's glossed over in the movies, but it's important since Pettigrew hid as a rat while secretly working for Voldemort.
Time Travelling Was Rather Odd
It's not possible for you to interact with your past self when it comes to time travel in the Potter universe. Sure, it can be hard to describe time travel in a book, it's abysmal in the movies.
In the books, they simply watched their past selves and maneuvered around them, but in the movies, they threw rocks at their past.
Peter Pettigrew Was Supposed To Die
Uhhh, okay? Kind of a weird for that to never happen. In The Goblet of Fire, Pettigrew cuts off his hand to bring back the Dark Lord. Voldemort gives him a silver hand that eventually turns on him and strangles him to death.
This doesn't happen in the movie.
What Ever Happened To This House Elf?
Winky, The Crouch House Elf, was super crucial in the fourth book. Like many lower-level characters, the elf was passed over. Sure, Kreacher had his moments, but he was made to be a bit more important in the movies.
Really, all we got was Dobby, but every elf deserves some recognition.
Dumbeldore's Reaction To Harry's Name In The Goblet Of Fire
Dumbledore losing his marbles in the fourth movie never happened in the fourth book. The master of Hogwarts was pretty calm in that whole scene because, well, he was always pretty calm.
It was pretty weird to see Dumbledore really go off on Harry like that. I mean, there's no need to be so emotional.
Hermione Was The One Who Started S.P.E.W.
If you're a Muggleborn, it stands for the Society of the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Thanks to things like time constraints, SPEW really didn't make any kind of impact at all in the movies.
It's really too bad because it was something that Hermione was really passionate about SPEW and it really helped round out her character.
In The Books, Hermione Never Obliviates Her Parents
Granger becomes very emotional when she tells the boys in the book about erasing her parents' memories of her. However, the movies depict something else. In part one of the Deathly Hallows movie, the scene shows Hermione casting the spell behind her parents back.
This makes for a pretty compelling scene that helps set the tone for the film.
Filmmakers Didn't Explain Who The Half-Blood Prince Was
Snape was the Half-Blood Prince. The potions textbook with all the helpful hints that 'magically' turn Harry into a great potion maker belonged to the young Severus. Snape's mother was a witch while his abusive father was a Muggle.
If it wasn't for a young teenage Snape, Harry Potter could have been Harry Snape.
Harry Never Snapped The Elder Wand In The Book
Harry only uses the wand to repair his own broken wand with Faux's feather as its core. Since Harry is the last "True Master" of the Elder Wand, if Harry dies a natural death, the power of the Elder Wand will die with him too.
In the book, he returned back to Dumbledore in his tomb, which was a much more touching moment.
Harry & Ginny's Kiss Is Different In The Book
In the Half-Blood Prince, Ginny runs to his arms in the common room, and they kiss in front of everyone. On the other hand, the movie really toned down the beautiful moment.
Instead, the hid the future husband-and-wife in the attic. It wasn't a scene that fans were expecting from Ginny, who was a lot more interesting in the books.
Harry Does Not Have Blue Eyes
It's very important for the Boy Who Lived to have his mother's eyes. Literally every person who knows both him and his mother mention that he has her eyes. Her GREEN eyes.
It seems like an easy enough fix since the technology existed to color them green when the first film was released, or just have Harry wear contacts.
Tom Riddle's Story Was Very Short In The Sixth Movie
The Half-Blood Prince decided to cut out all of Voldemort's backstory concerning his mother and grandfather. A big reason Voldemort became the person he did might have been because his mother chose to die instead of care for her child.
Voldemort literally never knew his mother's love because she chose death despite having a son who needed her.
Neville Could've Been The Chosen One
Voldemort's choice to "mark" Harry is what made him the "Chosen One" in the prophecy. That same prophecy applies to Neville Longbottom. Neville was born as the seventh month closes, to parents who defied The Dark Lord three times.
Really, either boy could have been labeled 'The Boy Who Lived' on that fateful Halloween night.
The Dance Between Harry And Hermione
If you ever had a BFF of the opposite sex that's your ride or die, you'd get this scene. They were both sad and the Horcrux was getting to them. With a little radio, Harry takes off the Horcrux from Hermione.
This didn't happen in the Deathly Hallows book, but it was a lovely choice of a scene.
Dudley's Goodbye Was Different
When Harry says his last goodbyes to the awful Dursley's, there's some remorse for Dudley. Perhaps, Harry's Muggle cousin was a product of his terrible, no good parents. He shakes Harry's hand and wishes him good luck.
But, the movie denied us a moment of character development from one Dursley.
